Leading French specialists in prosthetics and rehabilitation conduct training for Ukrainian colleagues

25 doctors of physical and rehabilitation medicine from different regions of Ukraine are undergoing training with the participation of leading French specialists in prosthetics and rehabilitation from the UGECAM Nord-Est Medical Association. The training takes place in the format of a professional school, during which participants will listen to theoretical lectures focused on the rehabilitation of people with amputations. Each lecture day is followed by a case study and practical exercises.

“The International Medical Partnership is an important initiative launched during the third First Ladies and Gentlemen Summit last September in Kyiv. Back then, 25 Ukrainian hospitals got “twins” in different parts of the world. Now there are 34 of them. The Superhumans Center is among them. The example of the professional school, where leading French experts teach Ukrainian ones, shows how this initiative works in practice: sharing experience and best practices to improve the quality of medical care for the benefit of Ukrainian patients,” said Viktor Liashko, Minister of Health of Ukraine, welcoming the participants to the training. “Training and professional development of healthcare professionals is one of the points of the memorandum of cooperation in the healthcare sector signed almost a year ago with my French counterpart. The document also identifies prosthetics, reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation as priority areas for joint work. These are the areas of medical aid for which the demand has increased significantly as a result of the full-scale war. I am grateful to France for its support in strengthening our medical system.”

The training program focuses on the following issues:

• medical and technical knowledge necessary to treat and train others on a “train the trainer” basis;
• ensuring an effective rehabilitation process and peculiarities of selecting prosthetic products for people with upper and lower limb amputations;
• assistance in making a decision on the best level of surgical amputation based on the existing capabilities and expected functional benefit of the prosthetic device;
• optimization of training in the use of prosthetic devices to obtain the best possible functional result, as close as possible to the physiological one and without harmful complications in the short or long term;
• mastering the strategy of cost-effectiveness in choosing a prosthetic product, etc.

A full-scale war has been going on in Ukraine for more than two years. Accordingly, the number of wounded is growing every day, which means that many people need prosthetics. That is why the Ministry of Health has recently introduced training for prosthetists. On 30 January 2024, the list of specializations for the training of master’s degree students in the specialty 224 “Technologies of medical diagnosis and treatment” was approved: 224.01 “Laboratory diagnostics” (for the training of laboratory doctors) and 224.02 “Prosthetics and orthotics” (for the training of prosthetists and orthotists). The introduction of the profession of prosthetist-orthotist and the system of training these specialists is extremely important for the healthcare rehabilitation system. The training of prosthetists and orthotists will be carried out at the master’s level in the specialty “Technologies of medical diagnosis and treatment”, which corresponds to the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED).